The case of the Bodysnatcher
Back Continued from: The case of the Wifestalker Participants Fred, Edgar, James Act 3 Unsettled by the request of the beast, the party couldn't let the deal go. They were paid in full, but leaving things like this just wasn't right. Fred visited the hospital where the shot creature was being treated for his wounds, talking to it to find out what it had meant in its' comments. Soon, the situation was clear. He told her of what had happened. How he had been swept out of his body, finding himself in this horrid form; with another taking his place. This could not be left alone, and would have to be investigated. So they did what any sane people would, and called a crazy necromancer to help them get to the bottom of it. Well, this time the crazy necromancer proved to be Edgar's crazy uncle, so it could have been worse. Indeed, as the team gathered in their headquarters, there erupted a spectral horse through the very wall; and astride the horse sat the Uncle himself. Leaving the ghost-creature to stand in the room, the group made their way to the rented van. During the ride to the man's estate, Uncle confirmed that he had seen similar things before, and that he could reverse the spell - should they acquire the hostile entity that had taken the poor man's place. As they arrive at the rather fancy estate, they walk up to the door and knock. They are greeted by a unknown face - a butler. The butler greets them, and claims that the master and mistress of the house are currently not at home, but that he would be happy to take a message for them. Of course, this most gracious offer was rudely refused, and the dapper chap was knocked out and put down on the sofa. Searching through the building for clues, they eventually find the wife's journal, which indeed strengthens the beast's claim of having been 'body-jacked'. They also find a spellbook, which after a brief examination by Uncle proves to be one dedicated to a unwholesome, and most distasteful ritual. Also, they find no reference to the butler in the journal. The butler, who proved to be a Spirit-bound zombie, is dispatched by a quick bullet to the brain as he attempted to assault the party, and Uncle quickly acquires a helping of his guts, including the long-dead heart. Act 4 Using the undead thing's heart to perform a spell of tracking, Uncle pins down the location of the body-snatching necromancer, and the party sets off post haste. Using the assorted guts to cast spells of summoning, Uncle calls upon Demonic allies to assist them in the coming battle. After all, any necromancer worth his salt would be prepared for this contingency. Arriving at a long-disused graveyard, Uncle's foresight proved true; as a horde of shambling dead greets them on the hallowed ground. Sending his Demons as the vanguard, Uncle engages the enemy; and he is quickly followed by the others. Battling through the hordes, the party made way inside the mausoleum; where James and the two demons remain behind to guard against the zombies that were trying to attack them from behind. The other three press on, Fred marching through traps and ambushes with impunity. With not a single scratch on them, they arrive at the gates of the deepest vault of the dead; a demon-possessed door is poised to prevent their passage. With Uncle's spellwork, and Edgar's blade, the door is banished and shattered; and they enter the room to see the possessed husband standing above his tied-down wife amidst a ritual that seemed to not have the lady's best in mind. The man; not a fighter, is quickly overpowered and detained. They then rip out his very soul, and place it into a vessel already prepared by Uncle. Meanwhile, at the gates to the dead's domain, James and the demons fought a desperate battle against what seemed to be a pile of zombies bound together into some manner of demented Megazord. Smashing the horror into pieces with his mighty electrical prowess, James earned the admiration of one of the Demons, a rather fetching demoness. Before parting the Demoness granted James a card to summon her again, with promises of grand carnal pleasure. Following the final showoff, switching the souls back into the right bodies was a trivial task, and the care of the true beast was left in the hands of SEA (The Superhuman Enforcement Agency), who shipped it away.